BELLBROOK, Ohio — Perfection survived its hardest test by three points. Top-seeded Bellbrook stayed unbeaten, edging fifth-seeded Miami Trace 24-21 on Friday night, November 13, at Bellbrook in an OHSAA Division III, Region 12 semifinal, according to the Mansfield News Journal’s statewide scoreboard. The Columbus Dispatch’s scoreboard and High School On SI’s statewide scoreboard both confirmed the 24-21 final.
The pairing matched the region’s last unbeaten against its most tested one-loss team. Bellbrook entered Friday 11-0 as the No. 1 seed in Region 12, and Miami Trace entered 11-1 as the No. 5 seed, according to High School On SI’s bracket preview. Twelve wins into the season, three points was the whole difference between them.
For Miami Trace, the loss ends an 11-2 season one round short of the regional final — the Panthers’ second loss of the year, and their closest game of the tournament. For Bellbrook, 12-0 is the program’s deepest unbeaten run of this playoff era, and it now carries the top seed’s target into championship week against a familiar opponent.
That opponent is Tippecanoe, which beat Archbishop McNicholas 28-27 in Friday’s other Region 12 semifinal. The final is a rematch with a grievance: Tippecanoe’s only loss this season came in Week 1, at Bellbrook — and the Red Devils have won eleven straight since, building all fall toward a second meeting with the only team that has beaten them.
Bellbrook’s side of the rematch is simpler: the Golden Eagles have already beaten Tippecanoe once, on this field, and a second win sends the program to the state semifinals. A Tippecanoe win would complete the season’s cleanest revenge arc in Division III. Either way, Region 12’s final is the game its bracket has pointed to since August.
No play-by-play account of Friday’s semifinal was published by the sources used for this story, so this report does not invent one. The verified record is the score, the seeds and the stakes — and on those, the final is unambiguous: the region’s unbeaten team and its hottest team, one game for the championship.
What happens next: Bellbrook (12-0) faces Tippecanoe (11-1) in the Division III, Region 12 final on Friday, November 20, at a site the OHSAA announces on Sunday, November 15. The winner advances to the state semifinals on November 27.